90-05-01 The Next World – Headcore

from the local zine Pyrobolum (#3)

‘The Next World’ were (brothers?; according to Rich Militia) Steve ‘Geezer’ (No, not the one of ‘Black Sabbath’…) Butler (bass) & Darron ‘Bill’ Ward (guitar & vocals), and a drum-machine from Bradford (they were also involved with the 1 in 12 there). Some people called their music a bit droney… ‘Headcore’ were Brench (guitar) & Sebastian ‘Wolf(head)’ Kelly (drums) – also Bradford-based. (Wolfhead later became the drummer of the jazz-horror-punk band ‘Phobos Deimos’).

Nice guys…and touring with them were Petesy (Burns) & Louanne (Martin) of ‘Stalag 17′ & ‘F.U.A.L.’. I had organised a tour that was actually first intended for ‘Indian Dream’ (Scarborough) – Noid & Lesley had asked for help – but in the end they couldn’t make it (They had to save up money to release their album since Bluurg recs couldn’t afford to do it.). The full schedule is hazy: May 1^st was definitely in Ieper… [Besides that?; Brob’s tours: Apr 28^th – ‘Troll’ (Hoorn, Nl) * Apr 29^th – ‘In Der Au’ (Frankfurt, Ger) * Apr 30^th – ‘WNC’ (Groningen, Nl) * May 2^nd – ‘BlaBla’ (Bonn, Ger) * May 3^rd – Nijmegen?Arnhem? * May 4^th – ‘Innocent’ (Hengelo, Nl)]

I wrote about ‘The Next World’s 7” (Public Order) in my zine: “Tight, rhythmic (programmed drumming), quite danceable punk-rock. Socio-critical lyrics”. Something similar about their lp (Resurgence); this was manufactured and distributed by the Bradford Music Collective (bradford-music-collective.co.uk). The first was in support of the Campaign against the Public Order Act (protesting the fact that the police were given new means to “control political unrest”). I also still have ‘Headcore’s 7” (called Student Bastard; see cover) which I also reviewed in Tilt! # 6: “Repetitive and simple punk based on acoustic guitar and drums. Very critical lyrics”.

Some time later we would meet up with Steve & Darron again when they came over with ‘Virtual Reality’…

Brob

My problem is that my memory is not great. I have recollections of driving the ‘Next World’ around but I have no specific memories of places or events. Wolf from ‘Headcore’ is a friend of mine.

Petesy Burns

I do remember that short tour, and very fondly – we had a lot of fun scampering ‘round Europe in our transit-van full of gear and people. You’re right, Petesy and Louanne came along – the original reason was the rest of us either didn’t have a driving-license or were too young to get hire van-insurance for overseas trips. Having them along was a blast.

I don’t remember very much detail about the tour but long days in that van though. I recall smuggling some Polish punk, whose visa had elapsed, into Germany on small back-roads. I remember dropping a guy who came along with us some of the way – it might have been Dowey – off in a park in Amsterdam, because he didn’t want to come to the next gig, and we arranged to pick him up at the same place next day. We got back the next day and he hadn’t moved a muscle in 24 hours, just kipped on the same bench in the park the whole time where we’d left him sitting.

I remember playing with ‘The Ex’ somewhere outside Amsterdam (I think) and us (‘Headcore’) being pretty shite that night and feeling a bit embarrassed. And tipping up at a festival near Groningen we were supposed to play at, to find it was just finishing. The organisers did a whip-round in the remains of the crowd for us because otherwise we had no money to drive to the next gig. I also recall playing a big squat-venue in Stuttgart (I think – unless it was Frankfurt [‘In Der Au’ in Rödelheim, near Frankfurt]), which was very organised – food all made for us, proper places to sleep. It had crazy, full-on fortifications against the police and neo-nazis. I remember playing one venue (which I think was Holland but might have been Belgium) where there were very few people, but we had a ball just the two bands, dancing to each other and taking advantage of long instrument leads to take the guitars right out into the street in the middle of songs and keep playing. That was our last gig of the tour I think.

But do you know, I don’t have memories that I can knowingly pin on the Vort ‘n Vis…

I lost touch with Brench or Steve or Darren. Back then we were all involved in the autonomous centre the 1 in 12 Club in Bradford. I think Brench is in Wales these days but you might just be able to get a contact for Steve or Darron via the 1 in 12 Club, which still exists.

Sebastian ‘Wolf(head)’ Kelly (drums for ‘Headcore’)

I remember the tour with ‘Headcore’. Think we played Bonn and Berlin [Brob: not Berlin; see tour-schedule] that time, as well as Holland and Belgium. The guy from Poland was Arek and I remember driving around trying to follow the back roads on the map. Another memory I’ve recalled was being taken to a lake by the organiser of one gig, maybe Bonn. I think she was surprised when we got there that not one of us could swim. It was a really hot day though so we just sat around and enjoyed the scenery….

Darron Ward, ‘The Next World’

additions wellcome!…